<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Salvage by grayseeker</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26223097">Salvage</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayseeker/pseuds/grayseeker'>grayseeker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Scientific Misadventures [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bittersweet, Humor, M/M, Memories, Old photos, Pranks, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Seeker Trines</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:15:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,557</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26223097</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayseeker/pseuds/grayseeker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Skywarp pesters Starscream for pranking supplies, and accidentally uncovers an old memory.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers), Starscream and Skywarp</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Scientific Misadventures [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904518</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>SkyStar Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Salvage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkDecepticon/gifts">Dark Star Of Chaos (DarkDecepticon)</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this for Day Two of the <a href="https://skystarweek.tumblr.com/">SkyStar Week 2020</a> challenge. The theme for Day Two is Regrets and Memories. A very special thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverlordRaax/">OverlordRaax</a> for organizing this wonderful celebration of my OTP.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Starscream stomped into his lab, coding the door shut behind him with a terse vocal command. He slammed the sonic rectifier down on his work-bench, not bothering to be gentle, and took a step back to glare at it. It was <i>not</i> salvageable. Not after what Astrotrain, that ham-fisted fool, had done to it. But orders were orders. He had to make an attempt. He rummaged in a drawer and began pulling out tools. A sudden 'vop' and displacement of air announced the arrival of the other current bane of his existence.</p><p>"That door was locked for a reason," Starscream muttered, not glancing up.</p><p>"Yeah? Didn't notice," Skywarp responded blithely, hopping up to perch on the edge of Starscream's work-bench. "Anyway, as I was saying—"</p><p>"I heard you the first time." Starscream opened a drawer and poked through its contents until he found the tool he'd been looking for. Perhaps if he could extract the rectifier's power-core and built a new chassis around it, he could get the thing working again. It was a long shot, and painstakingly delicate work, but—</p><p>"So you'll help?"</p><p>Starscream set the tool down and glared at his Trinemate. "You mean, will I provide you with supplies for your next ill-advised prank?"</p><p>"This is <i>way</i> more than just a prank. It's gonna be… " Skywarp rocked backward, spreading his arms "…epic," he concluded. "Totally epic."</p><p>"And whose undying hatred are you hoping to gain this time?"</p><p>"Huh?" Skywarp gave him a blank look, then grinned. "Ohhhh, right! The Stunticons."</p><p>"The Stunticons?" Now Starscream was interested. Much as he hated to admit it. Skywarp's peurile brand of humor was a pretty good match for Megatron's ‘pet' set of ground-troops. "I don't suppose this ‘epic' prank of yours would discourage them from racing in the hall outside my lab?"</p><p>"Hmm!" Skywarp's mobile features puckered in thought. "Do they do that often?"</p><p>"Oh, hardly ever! Just every single night, while I'm trying to focus."</p><p>"Every single night, you say?" Skywarp drummed his fingers on the edge of the work-bench, optics aglow with mischievous glee. "What if they… I dunno, hit a patch of black ice?"</p><p>"Black ice?" Starscream thought about it. "They're stunt drivers. It's right in their name—not to mention their base programming. I don't think a patch of slippery pavement would faze them."</p><p>Skywarp deflated. "Yeah, you're right, but… oh!" He sat up straight, wings hiking. "What if it wasn't slippery? What if it was sticky, like fly-paper?"</p><p>Starscream consulted his on-board memory banks for a definition of ‘fly-paper,' then shook his head. "If you think there's a glue strong enough to hold all five Stunticons, you're…" he trailed off, staring at a cabinet on the far side of the lab. "Hang on." He stalked to the cabinet, flung it open, and began delving into its contents. Skywarp strolled up behind him and peered over his shoulder.</p><p>"You got something?"</p><p>"Maybe!" Starscream had found the item in question: a cannister of foaming agent. "This wouldn't be enough for all five of them, of course, but…" he sprayed a small amount into his hand. Skywarp gave an audible squeak of excitement as the tiny dollop expanded, filling Starscream's palm and then spilling over to form a small, foamy pile at their feet.</p><p>"It's…" Skywarp dropped to a crouch and scooped up a double handful, grinning like a maniac. "It's <i>perfect."</i> His expression fell. "But…"</p><p>"But what?"</p><p>"It isn't sticky." Skywarp ran his fingers through the mess, looking forlorn. "Is there some way we can make it more sticky?"</p><p>Starscream pondered a moment, then reached back into the cabinet. He had to shift a few things out of the way, but he emerged triumphant with a small tube of hardener. "Observe." He sprinkled a tiny amount of hardener on the foam-pile at their feet. The chemical reaction took seconds, leaving him with a rock-hard foam boulder. He picked it up and threw it at the wall. It bounced off, leaving a dent. "If you get enough of that on them, they'll need to be chipped out with a jackhammer."</p><p>Skywarp cooed happily. "It's brilliant! Can you make enough to hold all five?"</p><p>"Of course I can."</p><p>"Great! Then all I need to do is figure out how to get it on 'em."</p><p>"Yes, we'll need a proper delivery system," Starscream mused, annoyed to notice that he, too, was suddenly saying ‘we.' As if he and Skywarp were a team or something. Still, it might be worth it for a few nights of not having to listen to screeching tires, or smell the delightful bouquet of burning rubber wafting under his lab door. A bit more rummaging and he came up with a blast-cannister. It was a dual-chamber design of his own making, and would work nicely for the purpose. He showed Skywarp how to load each of the chambers: one with the foaming agent and one with the hardener. "The two chemical components will atomize, and combine, when the cannister explodes. Presto! Stunticon fly-paper."</p><p>"Amazing," Skywarp murmured. His tone was hushed with admiration, and Starscream couldn't suppress a small jolt of pleasure. It was nice when someone appreciated his talents. Even if they had zero respect for a locked door.</p><p>"Anything else you need?" That was a dangerous question to ask Skywarp. Starscream regretted the words the moment he'd said them, but by then it was too late.</p><p>"Yeah," Skywarp murmured, picking up the fallen foam-boulder. He turned it in his hands, studying it from all angles. "Is there any way we can make it purple? And glittery?"</p><p>Starscream was about to say ‘no,' but then remembered the radioactive marker-dye he used for certain experiments. That was purple. "This should take care of the color," he said, reaching into the cabinet to retrieve a jar of the stuff. "You're on your own where it comes to glitter, but I'd think powdered chromium should do the trick." The jar was stuck behind a crate of sample jars. He tugged it free, and his elbow jostled something hard that tumbled from the cabinet and landed on the floor.</p><p>"Whoops! Looks like you dropped something!" Skywarp teleported to his side and scooped it up. "Here you g… <i>oh."</i> </p><p>It was a perfectly ordinary object. A holocube. It had yellowed with age and was cracked along one side so that the hazy, faded image inside had doubled up on itself. But Starscream wasn't so naive as to imagine his Trinemate wouldn't recognize the two figures in the picture.</p><p>"Um." Skywarp stared at the holocube, then at Starscream. "This is—"</p><p>"Yes, well." Starscream turned and stalked to his work-bench. "If that's <i>quite</i> everything you needed, I've got work to do."</p><p>"This is that <i>guy,"</i> Skywarp said. "The dude we chipped outta the ice-block."</p><p>"What of it?" Starscream demanded, though he knew very well what Skywarp was angling for.</p><p>"You said you knew the guy, but—" Skywarp held the cube up at arm's length, studying it in much the same way he had studied the foam boulder. "Guess I didn't know how close you were."</p><p>"We weren't," Starscream bit out. The words came automatically. He didn't mean them, but it was an old, old reflex by now. "That was a publicity shot, for what turned out to be our final mission together. That's all."</p><p>"Really?" Skywarp continued to stare at the image. Finally, with a delicacy that bordered on reverence, he set it on a shelf above the work-bench. "Hey," he said softly. "C'mon, 'Scream. Look at me."</p><p>Starscream dragged his gaze from the power-core he was trying to extract. He glared at Skywarp, daring him to look away. Skywarp didn't, which was actually worse. The look on his face was… not one Starscream would have wanted to see, on anyone. Pitying. </p><p>"Hey," Skywarp repeated, and this time his hand settled lightly on Starscream's arm. "I want you to know that we'd never ditch you like that guy did. I mean TC and me. Trine is Trine; together forever. ‘Kay?"</p><p>Starscream averted his gaze, now glaring into a corner of the room instead of directly at his Trinemate. "‘Kay," he muttered, hoping that would put an end to this conversation. "I need to get back to work."</p><p>The hand on his arm tightened briefly and then, with a soft whoosh, Skywarp was gone. Alone once again, Starscream finally let himself glance at the holocube. What he'd said was true, as far as it went. It had been a publicity shot, but it was so much more. The way he was perched on Skyfire's shoulder, his hand resting lightly just behind his neck. The way Skyfire's hand had crept up to curl around Starscream's foot, not because Starscream needed any help balancing, but simply because they'd both wanted the extra bit of contact. The way they were both smiling, gazing toward the future with absolute confidence, oblivious of what their upcoming mission was going to do to them both.</p><p>Starscream stared at the image for a long, long time. </p><p>His comm beeped. </p><p>"Yes, yes," he growled, in response to a curt question. "I'm looking at it. I don't think it's salvageable."</p><p>He meant, of course, the wrecked piece of machinery on his work-bench. Not the image in the holocube. But that wasn't salvageable either. With a sigh, he got back to work.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fun facts: The image inside the holocube might bear more than a passing resemblance to this gorgeous piece of <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/mucun/art/Skyfire-and-Starscream-86511481">fanart by Mucun</a>. Also, this story could well be taken as a prequel for another story of mine, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/8436835/chapters/19329118">Plague Theory</a>, so I've created a new series for them called "Scientific Misadventures." Seemed fitting.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>